Estimating predator functional responses using the times between prey captures

Predator functional responses describe predator feeding rates and are central to predator-prey theory. Ecologists have measured thousands of predator functional responses using the same basic experimental method. However, this design is ill-suited to address many current questions regarding functional responses. We derive a new experimental design and statistical analysis that quantifies functional responses using the times between a predators' feeding events requiring only one or a few trials. We examine the feasibility of the experimental method and analysis using simulations to assess the ability of the statistical model to estimate functional response parameters and perform a proof-of-concept experiment estimating the functional responses of two individual jumping spiders. Our simulations show that the statistical method reliably estimates functional response parameters. Our proof-of-concept experiment illustrates that the method provides reasonable estimates of functional response parameters. By virtue of the fewer number of trials required to measure a functional response, the method derived here promises to expand the questions that can be addressed using functional response experiments and the systems in which they can be measured. Thus, we hope that our method will refine our understanding of functional responses and predator-prey interactions more generally.